The Desert Colossus

So, instead of spamming Chatboard discussions with my posts about the upcoming election, I'll just make a topic for them in the GD. (The fact that this will increase my post count is a nice bonus.  :P ) Included a poll so we have a good idea of who TDC prefers.

Let's get things started with some things about me! I registered to vote not too long ago, although I did not register for either party and have chosen to remain an independent for the rest of my life. (George Washington, yo.) I'll make it no secret that I am voting for President Obama. Unemployment has decreased by over 2% since he took office, millions of new jobs have been created, the stock market has almost doubled in value, and the economy has improved every month for the past two years. On nearly every front, the economy has shown signs of starting to swing back to how it was before the economic crisis began, not bad considering that it was the worst economic downturn since the bubble of prosperity burst in 1929. He also gains big pluses with me because of his open support of gay marriage, and because I don't think that, unlike Romney, he's just full of it (and you know what I mean).

So... who watched that election last night?

I didn't see it (I tend to find stuff pertaining to political campaigns as pleasant as rusty nails on slate...and because of apathy about that stuff in general), but I, too, will probably vote for Obama once again. His stances on the economy and the environment, not to mention his track record on Internet freedom, are only good things in my book.

Romney's just full of it, as you said. In one of his speeches, he attacked Obama's environmental stance as a promise that never came (as if the environment is going to immediately recover) and only used that to frame his own "promise" that had the fun of a PR ploy and sincerity worth less than a nickel. That was all I could personally put up with before dismissing him as a viable candidate outright.

But eh, I'm biased.

Mr. Romney was already declaring the Obama administration to be a failure a mere eight days after the man took office. (link (http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jon-stewart-basks-in-the-glory-of-clint-eastwoods-awesome-speech-while-tearing-apart-romneys/); skip to 7:03 in the video) All that stuff in the convention speech about wanting to cooperate with the President to get the economy back on the right track? Nada.

I'm keeping an eye on this thread because I have a terrible feeling it's going to go downhill quickly.

I've been joking, saying that I'm going to vote for Batman this year, but in all seriousness, I'm most likely going to go with Obama (supposing I can remember to get to the polls in time this year; I have this bad habit of not realizing what the day is).  Romney has been coming off as a complete douche to me.  Supposing that the smear campaigns aren't lying out of their ***es, he doesn't support gay marriage, he doesn't think that women have a right to make decisions about their own bodies, and he doesn't think that the government has a responsibility to help all of the people they govern and not just a small percentage of it (that is, the millionaires and billionaires).  Mike Huckabee's recent comment especially doesn't help Romney's case.  Supposing this is correct, Huckabee has said that people should do whatever is necessary to stop Obama supporters from voting this year, even if it means letting the air out of their tires.  Smear campaigns are despicable enough, but this sort of tactic is going way too far.  We've put in place laws and constitutional amendments to ensure that everyone has the right to have their voice heard; if ever anyone has deserved to be kicked in the groin, it's Huckabee.

I agree. The Republican Party used to be a very legitimate political party that was honestly trying to help the nation. Now they've become more like a gang that spreads hateful lies in a desperate attempt at power. Just the other day I was reading about how one conservative writer basically wrote that President Obama's mother was a w****, and at least one prominent Republican praised the book. I may be an independent, but I will not stop voting for the Democrat Party until the Republican Party stops such behavior. It's a disgrace to actual politics.

I still want to believe it's a legitimate party, personally; it's just being represented horribly. I'm willing to bet there are plenty of Republican voters who are disgusted by their party's choice in candidate, just as there are probably quite a few Democrat voters who want Obama off the ballot.

I'm surprised someone was ballsy enough make a thread about politics here at the colossus. Let's just make a religion thread too, while we're at it. I'd like to say first that I don't debate politics with friends, almost ever. Some of my friends seem really intelligent until they start talking politics, and I wish I could go back to seeing them as informed individuals with a good amount of self-awareness. That being said, I hope we can all stay friendly about this.

I'm voting for Barrack Obama.

It's not that I support all that he's done, and it's not that I hate Romney. It's just that for one, Barrack's presidency has been an all around successful one. People say he hasn't done anything- it's the everyday pinhead's most common argument. He's done plenty, and it has already affected me personally in a positive way. A bill was passed that allows children to stay under their parents' health insurance until the age of 26. I was able to get my chest surgery because of it.

Another reason I'm voting for Barrack is that Romney will only help the rich get richer. It isn't entirely Romney- that's been almost the entire republican party. The rich benefit while the poor suffer. Romney has been coming off as a complete douche to me too, Feet. He's also been coming off as a bit of an ignoramus. He was puzzled as to why windows on airplanes don't roll down. He thinks that tax breaks for the rich will get America back on track. He "refuses to let his campaign be dictated by fact-checkers". He won't show us his tax returns. When questioned as to how kids should pay for college, he suggested that they "borrow money from mom and dad". He addressed the Prime Minister as "Mister Leader", which offended Great Britain, the Queen of England, and later, Israel.

The third reason I'm voting for Barrack is that Bill Clinton AKA President of the World, is standing beside him. Bill Clinton was an extraordinarily good president, and by the time he left office, the economy was roaring. He said that Barrack's numbers add up to success, whereas Romney's numbers point towards economic failure. I trust Bill with all my heart, and he promised that if Barrack gets a second term, we'll start to feel the results of what Obama has been working on.

So there you have it. With complete government transparency, Barrack Obama and Bill Clinton have my trust, where Mitt Romney, who has a "see me after the election about your questions" approach, just doesn't.

Quote from: Zelda Veteran on October 14, 2012, 11:48:48 AM
I'm surprised someone was ballsy enough make a thread about politics here at the colossus. Let's just make a religion thread too, while we're at it. I'd like to say first that I don't debate politics with friends, almost ever. Some of my friends seem really intelligent until they start talking politics, and I wish I could go back to seeing them as informed individuals with a good amount of self-awareness. That being said, I hope we can all stay friendly about this.

"We're all friends after 5:00." - Ronald Reagan on his relationship with Congressmen

We're all adults and friends here, and we are certainly capable of having a civilized and intelligent discussion about the political election without breaking into a terrible argument. I have political discussions with several of my friends all the time, even the ones who I disagree with a lot. We know how to have such discussions without getting angry with each other, and we're still very good friends. I've always like to reference that Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, the two lawyers for the 1925 Scopes trial (you know, the evolution one; the famous play Inherit the Wind is based on it), were very good friends who still got along well outside of the courtroom while the trial was still going on. If they can, we definitely could.

Also, I wouldn't call Bill Clinton extraordinarily good, but that's a topic for another day.

Also, I'm curious to know who voted "Other." Third party/independent candidates, eh?

Also also, if any of you would like a good site about the election, I recommend this one:

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/

It predicts both the predicted Electoral House vote, the popular vote, each candidate's chances of winning, the outcomes of each state, and, for good measure, predictions on how the Senate will turn out. It also releases daily articles explaining notable news in the election as well as explanations about certain changes in the numbers. Additionally, they link to other polls and prediction websites, which they average out to help form their predictions. I visit it daily.

I'll stop posting after myself now, by the way.  :P

Hmm, Obama and Romney have taken a relatively-sharp drop and rise, respectively, in stats recently. I wonder what I'm missing here.

Quote from: MagmarFire on October 15, 2012, 07:17:29 AM
Hmm, Obama and Romney have taken a relatively-sharp drop and rise, respectively, in stats recently. I wonder what I'm missing here.

It began just a few days after the debate, so the probably has a lot to do with it. Plus, historically speaking, such dramatic changes in the numbers aren't uncommon in the weeks just before the election. For example, Ronald Reagan creamed Jimmy Carter in the election of 1980, but Carter was ahead in the polls until just a few weeks before the election. When there's an election involving a sitting president, the incumbent will always have the edge in the polls until not long before election day.

Wow. People are kinda fickle, aren't they? Then again, that's probably a good thing in this case, since bias has less of an influence on the outcome.

I'm voting for Obama. I don't really like how Romney wants to take away the rights of gays to get married and for women to get an abortion and all that. I can understand people not personally being comfortable with the idea of gay marriage and abortion, but giving people their right to do something is in no way taking away the rights of people who oppose it. If you don't like something, then don't do it. Simple as that.

Also, as a college student myself, I'm all for Obama's plan to make college more affordable for students. This whole thing with Romney about students getting as much education as they can afford is just asinine because if that were the case, almost nobody would have the money to go to college. If the majority of people can't go to college, then they can't get a decent job and then the economy would be in even more trouble. Also, I think Obama did a pretty good job at improving the economy with what he was given. Romney seems to only want to make the rich richer and I really don't support that idea.

Strongly religious people should, by all means, be even more supportive of gay marriage and abortion rights than any other demographic group. Naturally speaking, they wouldn't want any body, political or otherwise, deciding how they should live their lives with religious beliefs that differ from their own. So they shouldn't let their own religious beliefs dictate how other people live their own lives. It's that simple. And, as you said about the post-secondary education plans of each of them, Romney's plan is foolish and would be very harmful to many of the people who will vote for him in a few weeks. I don't necessarily know if I should believe Romney means it (I actually hardly believe anything he says as more than attempts to bring in the hard-right voters, which is part of why I dislike him very strongly.), but it's a terrible plan nonetheless.

Also, this just sank in:

Quote from: Zelda Veteran on October 14, 2012, 11:48:48 AMA bill was passed that allows children to stay under their parents' health insurance until the age of 26. I was able to get my chest surgery because of it.

Woah, what happened?

Quote from: Mysterious F. on October 15, 2012, 06:16:06 PM
So they shouldn't let their own religious beliefs dictate how other people live their own lives. It's that simple.

You would think.  The problem is that, in many cases, the more religious people are, the less they like to keep it to themselves.  Imagine if you followed a religion that said nobody could wear the color red on Tuesdays, and if anyone did, the world would plunge into a thousand years of darkness.  If you sincerely believed that, would you care about letting people wear what they want, even if they didn't follow your specific interpretation of your religious teachings?  Some people believe there will be dire consequences if we let women have abortions of let gay people get married.  When you believe that, screw letting people do their own thing, religious law is the law.  Now some of the people who are against gay marriage are just bigots who use their religion to justify making it illegal, but I don't think you have to be a bigot in order to think gay marriage is going to doom us all.  You know that whole "love the sinner hate the sin" thing.

As for who I am voting for, probably Obama.  I don't think he is the greatest thing there is, but I think he's done a decent job, and I don't care for Romney.

Quote from: Darth Wyndisis on October 16, 2012, 05:55:31 AMImagine if you followed a religion that said nobody could wear the color red on Tuesdays

Heh, one of my history teachers always used an example like this when he had to give us examples. Except he used pink shirts and Thursdays.

Quote from: Darth Wyndisis on October 16, 2012, 05:55:31 AMNow some of the people who are against gay marriage are just bigots who use their religion to justify making it illegal

I have no idea what you're talking about. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church)

Quote from: Darth Wyndisis on October 16, 2012, 05:55:31 AM
You would think.  The problem is that, in many cases, the more religious people are, the less they like to keep it to themselves.

If I may make an amendment to this: The more vocal people are, the less they like to keep to themselves. It seems kind of obvious for me to say (I may even be begging the question...), but I can almost guarantee you that any sect of some kind of religion, fandom, or what have you that speaks out to overzealous extremes is a very vocal minority, not that they just happen to be extremely religious in their field. Cum hoc ergo propter hoc and all that.

QuoteNow some of the people who are against gay marriage are just bigots who use their religion to justify making it illegal, but I don't think you have to be a bigot in order to think gay marriage is going to doom us all.  You know that whole "love the sinner hate the sin" thing.

From my understanding, aside from the people who appeal to nature, those who are against it are so because of the lack of separation of church and state in regards to marriage. In other words, their tax dollars are being used on something that they think is morally wrong.

That was just something I heard online somewhere. I myself don't have a well-defined opinion on the matter.

In the hopes of sounding on-topic...uh...go Obama. :D

This was a good debate, way better than the disaster two weeks ago. Some key moments that came out of it:

1. Not really a moment but a debate rule that was often broken: Don't ever interrupt the moderator. Both of them needed to stop doing this in these debates. God.
2. "Governor, you're the last person who's gonna cut down on China." Brilliant.
3. President Obama absolutely owned Romney on the Libya question. And it is worth mentioning that, while the embassy in Tripoli did indeed ask for more security, it was not the one that was attacked. That was the Benghazi embassy.
4. "Government does not create jobs." If the government does not create jobs, Mitt, then why are you trying to convince people that you can create them if you're in the federal government?

EDIT: And "binders full of women" has turned into a meme:

http://bindersfullofwomen.tumblr.com/

Quote from: MagmarFire on October 16, 2012, 01:59:27 PM
From my understanding, aside from the people who appeal to nature, those who are against it are so because of the lack of separation of church and state in regards to marriage. In other words, their tax dollars are being used on something that they think is morally wrong.

If that's what they really think, that's just asinine. It wouldn't be the first time our tax dollars have been put towards something a fair amount of people weren't supportive of. A lot of people don't support the war we're in and that's costing us more tax dollars than granting gays the right to marry ever will.

My point being, of course, that sometimes our tax dollars go places we don't want them to and getting upset that your money is granting two people of the same sex the right to marry? Cry me a river.

Quote from: Vaati on October 16, 2012, 08:01:02 PMIf that's what they really think, that's just asinine. It wouldn't be the first time our tax dollars have been put towards something a fair amount of people weren't supportive of. A lot of people don't support the war we're in and that's costing us more tax dollars than granting gays the right to marry ever will.

My point being, of course, that sometimes our tax dollars go places we don't want them to and getting upset that your money is granting two people of the same sex the right to marry? Cry me a river.

Henry David Thoreau would hate you.  :P

I'm just the messenger here. Pay me no heed. ;D

I like how many times both of them turned the foreign policy debate into an economic debate. I mean, come on.

I filled out my absentee ballot Monday evening and then went trick-or-treating two days later. I am a responsible adult. :v

That's pretty awesome, TW.

Celebrate good times come on

Look at that, guys; we totally called the election.  Go us.

They could have just let us call it instead of taking painful hours to count every vote.  :D

Ahh, I was keeping track of the election on NBC's website while simultaneously managing Tumblr, Facebook, Skype and a Livestream chat. For a while I had completely forgotten to check NBC again and then my mom came into my room to tell me that Obama had won. Cheers! :D

I was watching the coverage on CBS until about 11, when the local news station started covering the election results for the Hampton Roads area.  After watching that for a while, I switched over to Fox, saw that Obama won, and then thought, "Well, that's all I need to know," and then I switched over to Conan.

If the Republican news channel declares the Democrat to be the winner mere hours after the votes start coming in, you know he won.  :P

(I'd still say this if the positions were reversed, by the way.)

For comedic effect. Language warning. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX8tL3PMj7o)

Really relieved Romney lost. He actually lost by a LOT. Nearly 100 electoral votes as a matter of fact.

Some of the reactions to President Obama's victory are truly shocking. Donald Trump said that the nation should enter a violent rebellion, and the Tea Party literally declared war on the country. I mean... come on, think about your actions.

In my important news, Puerto Rico may become a state within the near future:

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/11/07/51st-state-puerto-rico/

I am not surprised at all about Donald Trump, he just seems to be craving attention like a 13 year old on Facebook. And the Tea Party is gonna be performing acts similar to the Beer Hall Putsch. I can just see it.

...They wont get far...

I can see Puerto Rico becoming a state. They might as well, they are closer to us than Hawaii.

Oh boy, here we go. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/14/secession-50-states-_n_2131447.html)

Woah. I knew that Texas filed one, but all of the others... shocking.

Also heavily ironic since Puerto Rico wants to be a state now.

So pathetic... I mean, seriously, as far as I can understand it, their primary argument is:

"We're afraid Obama is going to destroy the Union. So before he can do that, we're going to destroy the Union."

::)

The following is a quote from the link Gamefreak shared:

"There is probably a fourteen-syllable German word that precisely captures the combination of juvenile whining, sour grapes and goofy anti-government fervor that drove an infinitesimal number of Americans to submit and support these petitions, but the word that the kids in America use to describe this is 'butthurt.'"

My thoughts exactly.

(http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_luoa71p1XZ1qaqps8o1_500.png)
"I've never felt such a strange combination of pity, and indigestion."

I agree, Mr. Krabs. This is hilarious and sad at the same time. This has happened before and it'll happen again. I knew a strangely large number of people that were planning to leave the U.S. if Mitt Romney had been elected, and they were very serious. A couple of our neighbors were already looking at homes in Europe. So regardless of who was elected, we were going to have these people.

I think overall, America made the right decision. It won't be until 2014, but people will eventually attempt to understand what the President has been doing, rather than immediately labeling everything he says as garbage. According to this (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fd5761d2-f489-11dd-8e76-0000779fd2ac.html#axzz2CWC1ANLo) article, Europe plans to follow Barrack's example. Whether the article is credible or not, I know for a fact that other countries' public polls showed that they favored Barrack Obama over Mitt Romney by landslides. "No use crying over spilled milk", said the largest Romney supporter I knew. "What's done is done. My candidate lost, and all I can do now is pray that the president has the right idea."

All I can say is that I'm relieved. I still have health insurance. College tuition didn't skyrocket, and my mom is still employed.

And we still have our Internet freedom. Can't forget that.

Really, Election Day was kind of an outstanding day on so many levels.

Especially when I got to vote for a pro-environmental policy. That was good. :D

I voted for Romney.

bravery level 11/10

Fo' shizzle, TW?

F'reelz.

I didn't like him or Obama, but I liked Romney's ideas on the economy more.

*shrugs*

Ehh, you're from Illinois, right? Your state was already going blue anyway, you could feel free to choose. (I'm probably dead wrong.)

I don't particularly like President Obama either, but I honestly loathe Romney, largely because he did this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/09/20/mitt-romney-mexico-fake-tan-univision-_n_1900183.html

For me, it was because of this:

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/418609/august-31-2012/mitt-romney-s--solid--gop-convention-speech (http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/418609/august-31-2012/mitt-romney-s--solid--gop-convention-speech)


The relevant clip is from about 1:59 to 2:51.